We Made It...Barely...

Well, Wednesday dawned as we were almost to the airport (my one gripe about winter mornings), and we got all checked in, through security, and literally walked to the gate, gave the lady our tickets, and got on the airplane. No sitting down, no getting our water bottles filled...no time to check to see if we could grab some Egg McMuffins or the like...good thing I'd packed cartons of yogurt, bananas, granola bars, and BB had toasted the last of our bagels before we left the house that morning!

Destructo-Girl settled in quite nicely, and watched Disney the entire flight, with only a tiny bit of trouble (namely tipping the tray table back up with my full cup of Sierra Mist still on it...but they weren't my magazines in the seat-back pocket so I only felt a little bad)...Captain Chaos and BB, on the other hand had an entirely different flight...

Captain was whiny and a bit unsettled as we made our way to our gate, tripping twice, only to be grumped at by BB who was worried we'd miss our flight, not truly upset that Capt had fallen...he'd not had a BM in about 3 days, so his tummy was unsettled, and his ear "had wax in it!" (His way of saying he was feeling sort of blah).

As we took off, I heard BB telling him to drink his juice, it would make him feel better. Conversation along the lines of "Stop crying" "I can't help you feel better if you don't tell me what is wrong", and my all-time favorite (insert sarcasm here) comment "If you don't stop crying I'll give you something to cry about!" lasted the better part of the flight.

Hoping that running through the airport to baggage claim would help alleviate whatever was ailing the boy, we let them go mostly unattended...and then he fell, and it all started again.

We got our bags, got our car, got loaded up and hit the road for the 3 hour drive to MIL and FIL's house...and he was whiny, grumpy and basically just annoying (yes...annoying)...

We stopped at the Golden Arches for food, thinking he was just hungry as he hadn't eaten anything other than 3 bites of bagel and a little yogurt. He ate 1 bite of nugget and fell asleep. Not even the lure of chocolate milk (something we never have at home) could induce him to eat.

I convinced BB that we just needed to let him be, and that he'd work it out eventually, he was probably over tired, and we had some peace as the kids drifted in and out of sleep.

We stopped at a Target on the way, to allow ourselved time to get out, walk around, get some fresh air, blood flowing, wake up a bit...you know the drill...you don't need anything really, but you do need to be up and moving to re-alert your body to the need to stay awake...

We were good til we got about 20 minutes from the house, and I heard a muffled "Mommy, I don't feel good" from the backseat. I turned a bit and saw a very pasty and green-faced boy with his hand over his mouth, and scrambled to get the empty Happy Meal box and napkins around and missed by about .5 seconds...we had all the contents of his little tummy projected all over the back of my seat, all down his shirt, on the floor, on the windows...

As I was hanging over the back of the seat, trying in vain to mop up the boy with a handful of paper napkins, BB was yelling at me to open the windows, unbuckle the car seat straps, clean him up and look for a place to pull off the road. It was not our best parenting moment.

We spent 20 minutes on the side of the road, in the cold and blowing rain with a sad and sorry little boy, using baby wipes to scrub at the Scotch-Guarded upholstery and carpet, clean off the car seat, and not a single car stopped to check if we needed help, to offer anything...we had not one drop of water anywhere in a container in the car to drink or use to clean up.

By the time we were on our way again, BB and I were pretty much soaked to the skin, I was spattered with remains from the event, and Captain just kept saying "I'm sorry I throwed up Mommy" in this despairing little voice...

We arrived, got cleaned up, brought in a load of laundry including car seat cover, got the boy some crackers and 7Up...and he's been fine since...

The car is free of stains...just not of odor...the laundry is clean, and the visit has been good.

And, before you comment about BB's parenting skills...let me remind you that we were up at 4am that morning, almost missed our plane, were exhausted and stressed out. BB is not around the kids to know the difference between whining for whining's sake and whining because something is wrong. I missed the signs until it was too late.

The rest of the ride and for the last 2 days, BB's been his normal patient and kind self, reading, playing, snuggling and wrestling with the kids.

Now, we pray for a great visit when BIL (who doesn't know we'll be here, or that he's staying at the house) and SIL and their kids get here. Thank goodness for somewhere we could stay away from here...at least we can get away to help alleviate the stress, and have some time to make happy memories of Christmas with our kiddos...

Pray for MIL and BIL and the lot of us as we prepare to go through this time as a family. Things between BIL and SIL are much worse than I feared, and I know that they can be mended...but only if BIL and SIL want to mend them...

This is not a family of believers...BB, Grandma, and myself are it, so prayers are needed, and much appreciated...